A Prospective Study on the Diagnosis, Severity and Prognosis of Soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 in Sepsis & Related Complications

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily of receptors that is specifically expressed on the surfaces of monocytes and neutrophils.TREM-1 expression is increased in infectious diseases and is associated with the release of soluble TREM-1 (sTREM-1).There has been demonstrated that the value of plasma sTREM-1 levels as an indicator of sepsis was superior, although other studies reported that the value of sTREM-1 for diagnosing sepsis was inferior.An increasing number of studies indicate that there are increased levels of sTREM-1 in body fluid samples for the following diseases and conditions: sepsis, pneumonia, pleural effusion, septic arthritis, meningitis, peritonitis, and uterine cavity infection.

Inflammation is now believed to play a major role in the pathophysiology of AKI. It is hypothesized that the initial insult results in morphological and/or functional changes in vascular endothelial cells and/or in tubular epithelium in sepsis models. Then, leukocytes including neutrophils, macrophages, natural killer cells, and lymphocytes infiltrate into the injured kidneys and induce the generation of inflammatory mediators. Whether urine sTREM-1 could also be detected and its significance in sepsis and AKI has not been reported yet.

The present study focused on the value of serum & urine sTREM-1 for sepsis identification, severity and prognosis assessments, and potential sepsis-related AKI. We also made comparisons between sTREM-1 and WBC counts, serum CRP, serum PCT, urine output,CC SCr, and BUN among sepsis patients.